The Evil of Humans
Recalling the past On a long mountain range in an unknown province, the sun had just began to set. Nature was settling down as animals returned to there dend birds to there nests for the night. Along a small path through the trees, an elderly man in a long cloak dragged an animal behind him. the size of the animal would make it appear difficult to move, though the man wasn't having any trouble. Just as it had begun to rain, he reached a cave near the base of the mountains. Inside, a child sat next to a campfire, though he jumped up excitedly when the man approached. "Hey Dad." looking past him to the cave entrance he asked, "Another storm coming?" Dropping the animal, the old man glanced back at rain dripping from the mouth of the cave. "Looks like it, so we're probably going to miss fishing tonight. Sorry Axel." "Aww..." Axel said disappointed, though he quickly changed his tone. "Well, you still got loads of stories to tell right? Come on, tell me tell me tell me" regaining his smile. The old man laughed to himself "Alright, alright, you'll get your story." taking a seat next to the fire he thought for a moment. "How about the time I teamed up with a bunch of other dragons?" he said smiling, fully knowing that would peak young Axel's interests. Wide eyed, Axle nodded and sat next to him, eagerly waiting to hear his dads tale. "It was a very long time ago. Back when my pupil was another dragon." he said, looking up at the cave roof as if he was reliving fond memories. "Things where very different back then, and your old man Jelonghoul was a bit of an outcast when it came to new ideas." Flashback to several centuries in the past Deep within the mountains, hidden in between them, was a large hidden building that was seen to be dark from all angles, making sure no one could see the inside of it. Through each of the corridor were different people, all talking with each other and passing along parchment after parchment. However, in one of the heavily guarded doors, all that could be heard were the sounds of painful screaming as two of the guards were shocking a chained woman with Lighting Magic, making her scream in pain as they stopped and allowed her to breath. "Please, we don't wish to hurt you any longer, all we ask is the location of the other dragons." A person said as it was revealed to be a male wearing a labcoat as he looked down on the woman. A wad of bloody spit was flung to the man's face as she bared her fangs and glared at her with her dragon-like eyes. "I see, very well, enough for now, we don't want our precious pet to die do we?" He said with a sadistic smile as he and the guards went outside, leaving her alone. In the woman's mind, all she could think of was how cruel the people that were treating her were, and how she longed for the sweet taste of death. She looked up to one of the only opened windows and saw the sky, wanting more than anything to spread her wings and fly away from that horrid place. Day turned to night as she was still hanging there, sleeping the pain away, and enjoying the dream of being away from that hell. Suddenly the sounds of painful screams woke her up as she could hear the sounds of blasts getting closer and closer to her. Outside the door, she heard voices and slowly tried to stand up, trying to focus her vision on what was going on. An explosion was felt by her as she could feel the smoke covering her, at first she beared her fangs to scare off whoever it was, but her sense of smell identified something familar as she heard a voice. "We're hear to help," said the voice, which sounded like a little girl's. There was a quick flash of light that temporarily blinded Terra's eyes, which had already adjusted to the darkness, and she felt her chains go limp and fall to the ground, finally freeing her. The unknown person generated a small ball of light in her palm to illuminate the room and Terra looked up at her rescuer to find a small girl with blue hair, blue, claw-like hands, and a pair of blue shades propped up on her head. The girl bent down a little so she was at eye-level with Terra and said "You poor thing. Don't worry, Jelong-sama will make you better." The little girl threw Terra's arm around her shoulders to support her and the two walked out the door toward the direction of the explosions. Towards the end of the hallway, another man with Red hair and eyes was holding one of the scientists by the neck. Seeing the two approach, he slammed him into the wall and let him slump to the ground. "You got her?" he asked, though before the girl answered, a blue ball of light flew at him, connecting with the side of his face. Turning back, he roared in the direction of the attack, launching a massive blast of lightning down the hall, blowing most of it's occupants away. Looking back at him, Terra saw that part of the mans face had been blown away, reviling a portion of his skull, which was glowing blue. Reaching up to feel it he said, "Damn it, not again." "Who..who are you..?" She asked looking at the two people in front of her, from the scent they were both emiting, she could assume they were dragons, but they had the appearance of normal humans aside from some defects. "I'm Nidia and this is Wottryon," said the blue hair girl with a smile. "Ya know Wott, if you didn't always let your guard down early you wouldn't need patching up all the time," continued Nidia, who's tone had changed into a very condescending one that didn't much fit her appearence at all. "Well, I figured these idiots would get the hint after we blew away around a dozen or so of them." he said defensively. Clutching at the skin around his exposed skull, Wottryon charged electricity between his fingers, making the wound slowly close itself up. "Guess these humans are to damn stubborn to see that there not wining this fight." Taking up Terra's other arm, Wottryon helped Nidia walk her down the hallways, keeping an eye out for any other solders attempting to stop them. "Your name's Terra right?" He asked her, not making eye contact. "Yes... Though I'm not exactly in my most presentable state" She said with disqust at the fact that she was forced to wear this human skin, "Why are you here? How did you find me?" Terra said still a bit woozy from the blood loss during her last "conversation". "Don't worry," said Nidia, "My blinding beauty should distract anyone from seeing you in this form you're so ashamed about." Nidia smiled innocently again, her eyes glowing with brilliant light and mischief. They walked on for what seemed like an hour until they stopped to take a break and let Terra rest for a moment. Sniffing the air, Wottryon looked down a handful of other passageways, seemingly looking for something else. Turning back to Terra he asked, "Wasn't there another dragon who came with you? Master said you had a partner." while keeping an eye out for other humans. Terra quickly realized what he was talking about, and began to feel tears coming down her face, in her mind all she could see were flashbacks of her both her mate and her egg being killed and slaughtered by the humans as she shook her head, "I'm the only one here" She replied feeling blood starting to seep from her old wounds. Nidia looked at Wottryon with a puzzled look, but decided to drop it until they met up with their master. They continued walking through corridor after corridor until finally they saw light coming from the end of the corridor they'd been walking down for over half an hour. Outside, a circle of humans had surrounded an elderly man in a white cloak. Despite boasting superior numbers, it was evident that the old man was winning the fight. Seeing the three approach, he turned to face them as they joined him in the circle of solders. "Ah, there you are." He said joyfully. Looking at Terra dangling between the two his expression softened. "The others?" he asked Wottryon, who only shook his head in response. "I see." he sighed, though he didn't look all that surprised. Kneeling down, he looked over Terra's numerous wounds, some fresh, many more where not. "Are you able to move?" he asked slowly, raising her head to meet his gaze. "Barley... Not enough blood or energy..." Terra replied trying to get off of the two younger human's grips, but she immediately fell to her knees as she could herself slowly losing more blood in her wounds and seeing her vision blurry as she tried to keep from passing out. "Whoa Lady!" Said Nidia as she quickly pulled Terra back up on her feet, "No need to strain yourself. Just hold on a minute and rest. You've already endured enough so just let us do all the heavy lifting for now." As she said this, Nidia kept a genuinely understanding smile on her face that wasn't at all arrogant or vain like she'd previously been. Before she could say anything in return, a man appeared out of the building they had just rescued Terra from. He wore a skull shaped mask and a long robe, concealing much of his body. As he approached, the solders closest to him turned there backs to the four intruders to kneel in respect. "You're the ones who attacked us?" he said surprised by there appearance. Wottryon turned to approach the masked man, but was stopped when his master blocked his path with his arm. Sniffing the air, Jelonghoul narrowed his eyes at him, then smiled. "Unfortunately, we have conflicting interests. We just came to get our friend back, so you don't have to worry about further hostilities." he said calmly, hoping against further violence. The robbed man seemed unimpressed, "You attacked us, steal our property, then expect me to simply let you free?" as he spoke, the solders around them regrouped, and took a fighting position. "No, I have some questions for you. And you WILL give me the answers I require." Moving his hands out of his robe, magic runes began circling around them, pulsing magic as they moved. Wottryon and Nidia stood on ether side of Terra, ready for a fight, though Jelonghoul stood calmly, undaunted by the man's threats. "You might want to listen child, you've lost much already. I think it might be wiser to cut your losses before anything else happens." Ignoring his words, the masked man charged at Jelonghoul, the runes lining up into a sort of ethereal blade. Once close enough, the masked man trusted the blade at the center of Jelonghould chest, only for it to shatter on impact, stunning everyone in the area except for the two guarding Terra. Jelonghoul shot an arm out and caught the man by the head, lifting him off the ground. Sniffing the air again, he slowly raised his leg and kicked the man in the chest, tearing the mans mask away and sending him sailing backwards. Studying the mask for a moment, Jelonghoul tossed it aside as he said. "Wottryon, Nidia, we're leaving." Taking Terra under the arm, the three of them turned and began walking away. "You're not going anywhere." a voice said from behind them. Turning, the robed man was back on his feet, holding the collar of his robe over his face, leaving only a small slit between that and his hood. Holding his free arm out in front of himself he shouted, "Amaterasu: Formula 100." More runes surrounded the group, forming a complex array of magic circles on all sides. As the three youngest looked around at the trap that had been laid around them, Jellonghoul simply sighed. Without a word, he swung his fist out towards the closest circle to him, shattering it like glass. As the others soon began to fall apart, the once masked man stood stunned. Jelonghoul looked up at him, this time he wasn't smiling. "You know, I don't think the world will be any less without your brand of evil hiding in the shadows." Sensing his master's intentions, Wottryon took Terra and Nidia by the arm. "Time to get moving." He said quickly, pulling both the girls behind them. The slight fear in his voice set both of them on edge. "Wait... we.. can't...." Terra finally passed out from the loss of blood as she could fell herself going limp. Feeling the drops of blood dripping down her arms as everything around her could be seen in a fuzzy daze, making it impossible for her to determine whether she was asleep or dead in actuality. "Slow down Wott!" said Nidia, who noticed Terra's unconscious state, "The last thing she needs is to be all knocked and jumbled up." She camed to a screeching halt in the middle of the path and looked behind her. They'd run at least several hundred yards, and Jelonghoul was out of sight by now. Nidia inspected Terra's injuries again. Most had re-openned and were spraying blood. "Well don't just stand there! We have to do something!" said Nidia panicing. "Like what?" Wottryon asked franticly, "I got no idea how humans are supposed work, doing anything could make it worse." Looking over Terras body, he could tell what was wrong, but had no idea how to fix it. Terra still remained unconsious as in her mind, small moments and scenes from her past came into view, some from when she was a young hatchling, to others where she was cuddiling her egg with such joy. All the memories in her mind made her cry without actually knowing it as tears poured down her face. Meanwhile, Nidia and Wottryon were still panicing as they stood over her, not sure what to do. "Wait! I remember something!" said Nidia with a sudden realization, "When ever a human is unhealthy, it always seems to help them feel at least a little better if they drink water. We need to find water!" Thinking for a moment, Wottryon looked back towards the facility they had just rescued Terra from. "You know, they probably got a lot of that back there." Looking Nidia, who was staring at him in disbelief. "Well, there where a few dozen humans back there, they have to drink something right?" Though nether of them liked the idea, the more they thought about it, the more it made sense. Nodding to each other, they gently took Terra under the arms, not wanting to harm her further, and set back down the path towards the human base. Just as it was coming into view, they both heard a loud thunderclap as lightning shot into the air. It seemed to hold there for a moment, arcing between the sky and the ground. Then a loud roar echoed through the entire mountain range, startling everyone within earshot. Wottryon and Nidia stood stunned, there was no mistaking that roar, not for them. They both rounded the corner to find the landscape in ruin. parts of the compound's walls where completely destroyed, the solders that had once surrounded them where scattered on the ground, and the clocked man acting as the leader had taken a beating. But the most incredible sight was the massive creature standing at the center of it all. Hunched over on all fours, a dragon was starring down at the man, yellow eyes burning into his soul. Clutching the stump of his left arm, the cloacked man turned in an attempt to escape into the confines of his base. Unimpressed, the dragon reared back his head, taking in a large breath of air, as a bright light formed in it's mouth. Opening it's mouth again, a massive stream of electricity surged towards the fleeing man, engulfing him in a burning light. First his cloack began to burn, then his skin, then bone, reducing him to nothing but a scorched scar in the earth. The remaining solders stood in complete shock, watching carefully as the dragon looked back at Wottryon, Terra, and Nidia. At first Nidia stood awkwardly, staring at the dragon. "Um, Master Jelong..." she started cautiously, "We need some water for this lady. Can you kinda hold off on the destruction for a bit while we go get some out of that place?" Nidia felt like an utter idiot asking Jelonghoul to not destroy the place they just rescued an injured person from. His eyes bore into her, like he could read her mind, but then he nodded, and began morphing back into a human. Nidia repositioned Terra on Wottryon's shoulders so he was pretty much giving her a piggyback ride, and ran into the building for water. In her mind, the same scenes kept playing over and over, she could see herself smiling at the egg she was sitting around, keeping it warm with her tail. In the background was the sound of another dragon as he landed with a large animal killed in it's mouth. The Dragon then laid it down as it nuzzled it, rolling it in the dirt as he pushed it to his mate, which she ate in one bite. The male dragon nuzzled her as she nuzzled back, still having her tail wrapped around her egg as she felt small rain drops coming down on her, she suddenly felt a large amount of water enter her body, causing her to cough and wake up as she opened her eyes to find the two younger humanoid dragons staring at her, one holding the cup while the other was holding her mouth open. "You two... What happened?" She said still feeling the pain on her body from the open wound, but now felt her mouth not to be so dry anymore. "We got you away from there." Wottryon said simply, helping her into a sitting positon. "Though it was strange how hard it was to scare them off. What the hell were they after?" "I'm guessing they wanted to find out more about you," said Nidia to Terra, "After all, you do have some abnormally powerful magic energy for a human. They probably wanted to extract it somehow. Turn it into a weapon." Then a question entered Nidia's mind, "Speaking of magic, what kind can you use anyway? You must be able to use magic with the kind of power you have." Terra began to laugh a bit, but immediatly stopped when she felt pain in her chest, "If I didn't know any better, I'd still think the two of you were younglings" She said looking at them with her dragon eyes as she moved up one of her sleeves to reveal small patches of scales, "Like you, I too am a dragon trapped in human form, they weren't after my power, they wanted me to give up locations on my fellow dragons" She said still feeling the blood dripping down as she was starting to feel dizzy again. "What?" both Wottryon and Nidia said completely taken by surprise. They hadn't come across another dragon for years, and the first human they had ever sought out turned out to be a dragon in disguise. Jelonghoul approached from behind the three of them, catching Terra and sitting her back on the ground again, "Bet this isn't quite what they had in mind though." he said with a small laugh. "Though you are right, Wottryon was still learning to use his magic when I found him, and Nidia was born after the dragon wars. I'd be more surprised if they could tell a dragon just by smell alone." "It's only because of my youthful innocence," said Nidia, who began to emit light particles for effect. "Anyway," she continued, "We've stocked up on supplies from the prison, so we should move out don't ya think?" Jelonghoul and Wottryon nodded. Nidia and Wottryon gathered up Terra in there arms and began to move, with Jelonghoul taking the lead. Terra nodded and began laughing, only to cough more as she felt her entire body going numb once again, slowly fading away as she could hear the voices slowly drifting away with her memories. After what seemed like years in her mind, Terra slowly began to open her eyes, slowly seeing everything around her, she had found herself in a wooden cottege. She tried to stand, but could still feel the wounds as she realized that her entire body had been bandaged. "Where am I now?" She said to herself as she saw the others resting in similar beds to her. "A hell of a lot farther away from that prison than last time. Though i'm not sure what exactly the humans call this place." Wottryon said, sitting in a bed in the corner. "We came across this place a while back, so me and master use it as a sort of base whenever we're in the area." "I think they're called something like hoses," said Nidia with a yawn as she sat up. "Or maybe it was horses? I don't know, it was something like that," she said smiling. "Anyway," she continued, "How do you feel Lady? You at least look better now that all those nasty wounds are covered." Terra noticed the wounds and felt them not hurting so much, just more sore than usual "I'm feeling good, better than I've felt in centuries. Where is the old one?" Terra wondered as she saw a cup of water next to her bed and drank from it, enjoying it's taste as if it was the best thing she ever tasted. "Not exactly sure." Wottryon said shrugging. "He's the best of all of us at hiding his scent, but I'm sure that he's around somewhere." Looking out the window he studied the forests within view. "But he's out of my range, at least as far as I can feel in this form." he said, a little annoyed. "I could probably sniff him out if I could transform back into a dragon," said Nidia as she sulked in the corner. "But! Of course even this ragged form is brilliantly awe-inspiring when my lovely personality fills it!" she said, completely forgeting her Transformation woes. Terra smiled at the two younglings, in her mind she had imagined multiple times how her youngling would've turned out if it had hatched. The memories of the egg began coming back, making tears drop down her eyes, but she quickly caught it and hardened herself to make sure that the two wouldn't see her in this condition. "Well, thank you both for rescuing me, but how did you find out about me?" She said looking over to them. "Master sniffed you out." Wottryon said while turning back to the girls. "Wasn't wasy finding the place, those humans where careful, but they shouldn't have underestimated a dragons sense of smell." After watching Terra finish her water, Wottryon got up again to get her another. Handing it to her, he said, "But I'm surprised, Master said he had met you and your partner before, I figured you'd remember him." "Do you really believe everything Jelong-sama tells you Wott?" asked Nidia as she sat upside-down on the edge of her bed, "I mean, there's got to be plenty of secrets he's kept from us and lies he's told us. It's simple nature for any living being, Dragon or human, to lie once in a while." Terra sat there in silence for a while as the two noticed the mood of the room change from happy to sad in one moment, "I... I had a partner, he was murdered by the humans who had captured me, my new-born hatchling too, it's been centuries since I've seen them" She said finally letting the tears drop from her face. Wottryon took a step back, not sure exactly what to do about Terra's tears. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up." trying to backtrack, he couldn't think of anything to change the subject for the better. Then one question came to mind, one he was suppressed both he and Nidia overlooked before. "Wait, if your a dragon, why do you look like a human? Before Terra could answer however, Wottryon felt a blunt pain on his head. Nidia has jumped behind him and delivered a devistating punch on his head. When he looked up, clutching his head, Nidia was standing over him, her claw-like fists balled, and her eyes glowing. "You idiot! You've already made her cry! Honestly have you ever even talked to a woman in your life?!" Terra looked over at the two and smiled a bit, "Haha, it's quite alright my dear, it's just been so long since I've told anyone about it" She said rubbing the tears out of her eyes. "When they died, I was near the end of my life, but I activated something called Compact Regression, which regressed my body and transformed me into this form that you see right now" She said with disqust and anger. Rubbing the back of his head, Wottryon glaired at Nidia as electricity sparked from the place he was hit. "Can't you just turn back?" he said, though he seemed to be having more trouble repairing his head than last time. Before she could respond the front door of the house opened, startling everyone in the room, and Jelonghoul strolled in from the outside. Looking at the three of them he smilled, "Ah, so your up Terra? How are you feeling?" "She was ''feeling fine until Wottryon went and made her cry. You really need to teach him how to talk to women Jelong-sama. He'll never get any sense otherwise," said Nidia, answering for Terra, even though she didn't need to since Terra had managed to pull herself together. "Yes I'm fine, and to answer your questions young ones, no I cannot return back to my normal self. Once a dragon goes through it, they're stuck in this form for the remainder of their existance" She said with a sigh as she looked over to Jelonghoul. "I appreciate you saving me, but why exactly? I have never met you before or have heard of you Jelonghoul". "How is that possible?" Wottryon asked, while the skin on the left side of his face seemed to crack with a blue light, originating from the mark on his head. As Wottryon became too distracted trying to fix his disguise to listen for an answer, Jelonghoul stepped up. "We saved you because we wanted to." he said simply. "And I think I met with your mate more than I did with you. You never where the most trusting one Terra" He joked, "Though I'd understand now more than ever why." Seeing Terra glair at him for his words, Jelonghoul sighed, "And that's not exactly correct, you can turn back into a dragon, it'll just take a bit of learning." "It's gonna take a lot more than learning to turn me back into a dragon," said Nidia, returning to her sulking in the far corner once more. She began rubbing her finger on the wooden floor in a circular motion and puffing out her cheeks, "Stupid Zeref! Stupid Black Arts! Stupid Human Body!..." She started listing all kinds of things and calling them stupid as the others spoke. "It's not that simple for me either, the regression lasts for centuries, believe me I've tried to force myself back into my dragon form, but it's done no good" Terra replied sighing as she looked at her human hands, disqusted by them and even more disqusted that she couldn't go back to normal. "It's not somthing you can force." Jelonghoul said, trying to comfort her. "Took me quite some time to develop this ability." Looking over at Nidia sitting in the corner, and Wottryon still trying to fix his cracking disguise he continued, "Longer still to pass it on to thoes two." he said with a small chuckle. "But if your willing to try, I can teach you to change forms like flipping a switch. You'd be able to walk among humans and dragons whenever you wish." "Yeah," said Nidia as she walked back over from the corner, "Someone like you could probably learn it easily. I can't, but I'm the youngest. Master Boreana couldn't even teach me. But Jelong could teach you no problem." Terra immediatly got angry at what she was hearing, not only did they want her to remain human, but they even wanted her co-existing with them as well. She quickly pushed off the blankets and attempted to walk, still feeling sore from the wounds she sustained as she fell to her knees. The youngling's tried to help her, but she snarled at them, making them back away. "These worthless humans destroyed my home, killed my mate, and destroyed my child, and you expect me to live among them?!" She roared in anger, trying to get back up as she attempted to make her way out of there, but kept falling in the process. "I'd sooner rather have my head cut off than be anywhere near those worthless humans" She said finding a sword near her and taking it, using it as a crutch as she stormed out of there. Though the younglings attempted to follow after her, Jelonghoul raised his arms to stop them. Standing on the front steps of the small house, he watched her back and said, "My offer stands no mater how long you want to wait. We will always welcome you back." He only got a menacing glare from over Terra's shoulder as a response, but he still smiled. "You think she'll cause trouble?" Wottryon asked, finally getting the cracks on his face to close up. "She's to angry with humans to be around anywhere around them right now, even to get revenge on them." Jelonghoul said confidently. "It's quite a lot of information to take in right after everything that's happened to her. But I'm sure she'll come to see that not every human is like that group we rescued her from." Watching her limp away, Jelonghoul knew that she would have reacted this way, but felt a direct approach would be best. He knew she'd come around now that she knew that it was possible to turn back into a dragon. "Come on, back to lessons." He said abruptly, causing both Nidia and Wottryon to grown. '''Next Chapter' - Second Chance: Teaching of The Elders Category:Changing with Time, Living Among Humans Category:Roleplay Category:Storyline Category:Chapters